The Open Championship 2013 Tee Times: Latest Day 1 News, Start Times

The British heatwave continues to beat down on Muirfield for the oldest major championship in professional golf.

As a selection of the world’s best golfers descend upon East Lothian for The British Open, Thursday’s tee times and pairings have been announced. As ever, plenty of mouthwatering trios have been placed together in a tournament that will test professional and amateur inclusions alike.

Current champion Ernie Els also won the last Open Championship to be played at Muirfield in 2002, making him an interesting prospect for the upcoming competition. He is grouped with U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and current world No. 8 Brandt Snedeker.

Three-time Open champion Tiger Woods is joined by 2010 U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell. The Northern Irishman believes the freak weather is going to play a huge part in this year’s championship, as reported by The Independent. More used to the sun is Louis Oosthuizen, who joins Woods and McDowell in an intriguing group.

A total of 52 groups will be ready to tee off on July 18. Each player will have completed a practice tee on July 17 and will be ready to compete for the famous prize. Here are all of the Day 1 start times, as provided by The Open Championship’s official website:

It’s been five long years since Tiger Woods last landed a major championship. Although the legendary American has had plenty of personal problems to contend with in that time, he will be itching to end a prolonged drought for glory.

According to Yahoo!, the 37-year-old is poised to repeat his 2006 Open-winning strategy by dropping the use of drivers. The Scottish course is extremely dry, and with Woods recently returning from a niggling elbow injury, this kind of tactical decision will set him in good stead to compete alongside other favourites such as Els, Rose, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott.

Sky Sports reports Peter Hanson could miss the Open Championship starting tee on Thursday with a continuous back problem. The 2012 KLM …read more